JOSEPH HENRY ALLEN, D. D. LATE LECTURER IN ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IN HARVARD UNIVERSITY; NEW-YORK THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE CO. M DCCC XCIV PREFACE. THE task attempted here is, first, to give, within the limits assigned, a history of the religious movement known as "Unitarian" sufficiently broad and complete for the general reader; and second, to furnish a list of authorities adequate for the uses of the special student. The latter object, it is hoped, has been effected by ample references in the margin. A formal bibliography, particularly of individual lives, which are very numerous, might be extended to any length, and might hardly justify the space it would require. Besides, the value of this sketch, such as it is, depends-in the latter part especially on its being a record of personal recollections, judgments, or impressions, left by near sixty years during which I have been a student or observer, and more than fifty while I have been, in a way, a laborer, in this field. In what is said of the incidents and actors since the movement of thought among us commonly dated between 1835 and 1840, every name is one I recall, gratefully, as that of a teacher, associate, or friend. Most of these are passed away. Of the living, only Furness and Martineau have been included; and these, in their advanced and venerated old age, already belong to history. |